Actually–and this was where I began to feel seriously uncomfortable–some such divine claim underlay not just 'the occupation' but the whole idea of a separate state for Jews in Palestine. Take away the divine warrant for the Holy Land and where were you, and what were you? Just another land-thief like the Turks or the British, except that in this case you wanted the land without the people. And the original Zionist slogan–'a land without a people for a people without a land'–disclosed its own negation when I saw the densely populated Arab towns dwelling sullenly under Jewish tutelage. You want irony? How about Jews becoming colonizers at just the moment when other Europeans had given up on the idea?. Christopher Hitchens
About This Quote

In the quote, A.L. Tibbets is arguing that his refusal to see Israel as a Jewish state was not a refusal to recognize the claims of the Jewish people on their land, but rather a recognition that the land was not being used properly by its original inhabitants. This recognition is what separated him from those who believe that it is a sin for Jews to settle on the land of another people. Tibbets believed that if the Jewish people were to have a homeland, they would have to work hard to make sure it was more than just a place where Jews could live as if they were in exile.

Source: Hitch22: A Memoir

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